Monday, March 12, 2018

A name first published by the Ladies Art Company perhaps in their 1898 catalog

of quilt patterns.

Also published as Mexican Rose by Marie Webster

in her 1915 book Quilts

It's #22.41 in my book Encyclopedia of Applique,

categorized as a four plus four block: Four motifs alternating

with four other motifs rotating from a central point.

The major characteristics are the simplicity of the north/south

units, which can be a diamond or a leaf shape

The corner florals on long stems tend to be multi-petaled and viewed

from the side.

With variation possible

Crib quilt

Lots of extra applique from a mid-19th century quilt from the

Shelburne Museum's collection

From Fourth Corner Antique Quilts

We owe to Webster our connection of the pattern to "stirring frontier activities...Mexican Rose...reflecting domestic interest in important events..." Presumably she is talking of the Mexican War in the late 1840s to gain territory from Mexico.

I'm afraid that Webster's story cannot be substantiated with any evidence that the design was called Mexican Rose in the 1840s when it first appeared or that it had any connection to that war.

was published about 1890. You don't see it in mid-19th-century albums.

The design was also quite fashionable in the Miami Valley

sampler/albums made in Ohio about 1900.

The ELI quilt from the 1890s in the collection

of the International Quilt Study Center and Museum

Like the eagles in this group of quilts, the Mexican Rose variation

was practically a necessity

It's an easy pattern for beginner applique.

Print this out on an 8-1/2" x 11" sheet of paper for a pattern of sorts. It would fit in a 20" finished block.As you can see by all the examples, red and green is probably the traditional fabric choice.